Global Pulse

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  • Elon Musk reiterates claim that UK is on verge of ‘reckoning’ due to Muslim immigration

    Elon Musk reiterates claim that UK is on verge of ‘reckoning’ due to Muslim immigration

    Billionaire tech tycoon and influential far-right figure Elon Musk has reignited widespread backlash with incendiary comments about Muslim immigration to the United Kingdom, claiming that current demographic trends will lead to an imminent ‘reckoning’ that many observers interpret as a thinly veiled prediction of civil war.

    Musk made the remarks during an interview with The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, who pressed him on widespread accusations that he holds anti-Muslim views. When asked directly about the label, Musk defended his position by arguing he opposes immigration of people holding what he calls ‘antithetical views’ to Western societal norms. ‘I’m against rape and murder, I’m against the imposition of rules and laws that are contrary to what we’ve come to accept in the West. I think it’s a crying shame that the traditional media don’t recognise this,’ Musk stated.

    Beddoes then pushed Musk on his past comments that framed civil war in the UK as ‘inevitable’, prompting Musk to double down, claiming the outcome is baked into ‘the current trend’ of immigration. The interviewer immediately pushed back against Musk’s unsubstantiated claims, fact-checking his narrative directly: ‘That is nonsense. The numbers also disprove what you say. London is a much safer city than any city in the US,’ Beddoes said. ‘You have painted Europe and the UK as overrun with terrifying Muslim immigrants, there’s rape on every corner, there’s civilisational destruction.’

    In response, Musk acknowledged it had been several years since his last visit to the UK, before incorrectly claiming he had never made the extreme claims Beddoes outlined. This is far from the first time Musk has stoked anti-immigrant and Islamophobic sentiment in the UK, however. Through his ownership of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk has repeatedly amplified far-right political groups and individual figures in the country, including the far-right campaign group Restore Britain and British anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson, born Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Experts and observers link this amplification to rising anti-migrant hostility across the UK.

    Just last month, anti-refugee riots targeting non-white communities erupted in Belfast and Southampton, unrest that was directly sparked after Musk shared viral footage of a violent knife attack and called for mass public protests. For months, Musk has fixated on unsubstantiated claims about rising violence and sexual assault in the UK and broader Europe, falsely tying these trends to growing non-white and Muslim populations, claims that contradict official crime data from across the continent.

    The controversial billionaire is no stranger to scandal himself, with multiple public accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse. In one high-profile case, SpaceX paid a $250,000 settlement to a female employee who alleged Musk exposed himself to her during a private flight. Musk has dismissed reporting of the incident as a ‘politically motivated hit piece’, claiming there is ‘a lot more to this story’ that has not been reported. Separately, eight former SpaceX employees filed a lawsuit against the company and Musk in 2024, alleging Musk personally ordered their firing after they publicly called out the company’s culture of tolerating repeated workplace sexual harassment.

    Musk’s businesses have also faced regulatory scrutiny across Europe in recent months. Earlier this year, X faced potential criminal prosecution and a regional ban after investigators found that the platform’s Grok AI tool was being used to generate non-consensual deepfake sexual imagery and child sexual abuse material. Musk initially claimed he had no knowledge of the harmful content, even going so far as to mock users who raised complaints about the issue. While the company has stated it has strengthened content safeguards, multiple reports confirm Grok still continues to generate prohibited sexual deepfake content months after the scandal broke.

  • Israeli banks set to sever financial links with Palestinian banks, sparking payment fears

    Israeli banks set to sever financial links with Palestinian banks, sparking payment fears

    Two major Israeli financial institutions, Bank Hapoalim and Discount Bank, have notified Palestinian lenders that they will terminate critical correspondent banking relationships in the coming weeks, international news agency AFP has reported. Citing anonymous Palestinian banking officials, the report outlines a clear timeline for the cut-off: the five Palestinian banks that rely on Bank Hapoalim for cross-system financial links will lose access starting August 13, while institutions that use Discount Bank’s services will face the same disruption by September 1.

    The Israeli Ministry of Finance has confirmed the pending termination, framing the decision as a response to “growing public risks and growing concerns over potential private legal action targeting Israeli banking entities.” In an official statement, the ministry added that it is currently holding negotiations with the two banks to find a pathway to maintain correspondent services “in a safe and responsible framework” that prioritizes Israel’s national security and economic interests.

    Correspondent banking arrangements form the foundational operational connection between the Palestinian and Israeli financial systems, enabling a wide range of activities that are essential to daily Palestinian economic life. These ties allow for seamless shekel-denominated payments between Palestinian and Israeli lenders, clear transactions for Palestinian imports from Israel—imports that make up the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian Authority’s total trade volume—and the smooth transfer of wages for thousands of Palestinians employed in Israel and Israeli-occupied settlements. The arrangement also facilitates the repatriation of excess shekel banknotes held by Palestinian banks back to the Israeli financial system, and streamlines business transactions between Palestinian and private Israeli companies.

    Economic observers and Palestinian officials warn that a complete, unmitigated severance of these ties would trigger cascading, far-reaching harm across the Palestinian economy. First, cross-border business payments between Palestinian and Israeli firms would face major disruptions. Critical imports of staple goods including food, fuel, and pharmaceutical products would also be interrupted, exacerbating existing shortages that have already strained Palestinian households. The cut-off would also deepen an ongoing crisis of accumulated shekel cash in Palestinian banks, a problem that already exists due to longstanding Israeli restrictions on moving excess currency out of Palestinian financial institutions.

    The severity of the impact on the Palestinian Authority will depend on the duration of the disruption and whether a viable alternative arrangement can be negotiated. If the severing of ties becomes permanent, the Palestinian Authority could face severe challenges in covering public sector salaries, as fund transfers would be delayed or become drastically more expensive. Disruptions to cross-border trade would also erode the Palestinian Authority’s core tax revenue, increasing already extreme fiscal pressure, while widespread shekel shortages and payment delays could erode public trust in the Palestinian banking system as a whole.
    Nasr Abdel Karim, an independent Palestinian economic analyst, told Middle East Eye that the decision fits into a years-long pattern of Israeli policy designed to pressure Palestinian communities. “For the past four years, the Israeli government has implemented every possible policy to subdue the Palestinians in one way or another,” Karim explained, noting that the move is explicitly politically motivated and will compound a slew of existing crises already facing Palestinians, including ongoing fuel shortages, delayed public sector salaries, a glut of excess shekels in local banks, sky-high youth unemployment, and rapidly deteriorating living standards. He added that the termination will place even more strain on Palestinian traders and the already fragile private sector.
    Karim further contextualized the decision: “Banks make decisions based on minimizing risk and protecting the interests of their shareholders and depositors. The uncertainty created by [Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich left the banks no room to maneuver, so they opted to cut the relationship. But this, without question, falls within the framework of Israel’s expansionist political agenda.”
    Beyond macroeconomic harm, the Palestinian banking sector would face a growing shift toward cash-only transactions instead of electronic transfers, bringing higher operational risks and costs for local lenders. If the disruption stretches into months, Palestinian banks may also be forced to scale back access to core financial services for ordinary customers.
    Palestinian political and economic officials, alongside major international bodies, have issued stark warnings that the absence of a viable alternative mechanism or an extension of the current arrangements could trigger a full-scale economic and banking collapse across the Palestinian territories.
    Mohammed al-Qeeq, a prominent Palestinian political analyst, argued that the move is a deliberate step in a broader Israeli strategy to dismantle the Palestinian Authority. “Israel is deliberately seeking to cut all official ties with the Palestinian Authority to pave the way for its collapse, and instead deal with private Palestinian companies as substitutes,” al-Qeeq told Middle East Eye. This framework would allow Israel to govern the Palestinian population without engaging with a sovereign Palestinian governing body.
    “Israel refers to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria, a framing that signals to the international community that it does not recognize a sovereign Palestinian state. In this view, the territory is Israeli land, and all dealings should be with private companies, not a Palestinian national authority,” he explained. In al-Qeeq’s analysis, the banking decision is a core component of Israel’s annexation agenda: it aims to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, cripple any prospect of an independent Palestinian economy, cut off access to basic necessities like fuel, and reduce Palestinians to the status of temporary residents in their own territory.

  • India cockroach protests: Videos show officers firing ‘pellet guns’

    India cockroach protests: Videos show officers firing ‘pellet guns’

    Thousands of residents in India’s capital New Delhi have filled public thoroughfares in a widespread demonstration that has come to be known as the ‘cockroach protests’, with demonstrators uniting around a single core demand: sweeping, long-overdue changes to the country’s education system. Viral video footage shared widely across social media platforms has captured the moment law enforcement officers responded to the unrest by discharging pellet guns into the crowd, a escalation of force that has amplified public anger and drawn sharp scrutiny from rights observers. The unusual ‘cockroach’ moniker for the protests has its roots in demonstrators’ framing of themselves as marginalized groups that have been ignored and dismissed by authorities for years, much like unwanted pests that are pushed aside rather than addressed. While the immediate trigger for the mass mobilization varies across different segments of protesters, the overarching grievance centers on systemic flaws in India’s education sector, including underfunding, inequitable access to quality learning, outdated curriculum structures, and persistent job gaps for graduating students. As footage of the pellet gun use continues to circulate online, the demonstration has grown in size, with solidarity protests popping up in other major Indian cities, and calls growing louder for central and state education officials to open formal negotiations with protest leaders to address the community’s demands.

  • Bangladesh’s president, once a close ally of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, resigns

    Bangladesh’s president, once a close ally of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, resigns

    After years of escalating political turbulence that reshaped South Asia’s most densely populated nation, Bangladesh’s sitting president Mohammed Shahabuddin — a key ally of ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina — formally stepped down from office Friday, cutting short his five-year term halfway through its tenure.

    Shahabuddin’s exit comes nearly three months after a new administration led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, the son of former premier Khaleda Zia and Hasina’s long-time arch political rival, swept to power in a landslide February electoral victory. That vote marked the end of an 18-month interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, which was installed after a mass anti-government uprising ended Hasina’s 15 consecutive years in power in August 2024. Following the collapse of her government, Hasina fled to neighboring India, where she remains in exile.

    In official documents reviewed by the Associated Press, Shahabuddin cited medical grounds for his resignation, which he submitted Friday to Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad. Ahmad confirmed to reporters shortly after receiving the document that he had accepted the resignation. However, local Bangladeshi media outlets have reported that the president’s departure was forced by pressure from the current ruling administration, stemming from unconfirmed allegations that Shahabuddin held an unauthorized phone call with Hasina during a May medical trip to London. The AP has not independently verified these claims.

    A long-time trusted confidant of Hasina, Shahabuddin had faced sustained pressure to step down even before the February election. Student groups that led the 2024 uprising against Hasina repeatedly branded him a close collaborator of the ousted government, organizing mass street demonstrations demanding both his resignation and arrest. The National Citizen Party (NCP), the new political party formed by those uprising leaders, made removing Shahabuddin from office a core campaign plank. The NCP currently sits as part of the ruling electoral alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist political party.

    Under Bangladesh’s constitution, the Parliament speaker will automatically assume the presidency on an interim basis until lawmakers elect a new head of state. While the presidency is largely a ceremonial figurehead role, it carries significant constitutional authority during periods of political crisis and designates the holder as commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces. Shahabuddin, who was Hasina’s handpicked candidate, was sworn in as Bangladesh’s 22nd president in April 2023, months after Hasina’s ruling Awami League party secured a fourth consecutive parliamentary term in a January 2024 election boycotted by all major opposition parties, including Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

    Shahabuddin’s resignation eliminates one of the last remaining institutional allies Hasina held within Bangladesh. From exile, the ousted prime minister has told multiple Indian media outlets that she plans to return to Bangladesh in December and surrender to domestic courts to face outstanding charges against her. Successive Bangladeshi administrations — first Yunus’s interim government, and now Rahman’s elected government — have repeatedly requested India extradite Hasina to face prosecution, but New Delhi has refused to comply.

    In November 2024, a special Bangladeshi tribunal sentenced Hasina to death in absentia, convicting her of ordering the violent crackdown on last year’s anti-government uprising. A United Nations investigative report later estimated that nearly 1,400 people were killed during the crackdown. Hasina has repeatedly denied all allegations against her from her exile in India.

  • Iranians find community in art, culture and memes as missiles fly

    Iranians find community in art, culture and memes as missiles fly

    Most global media coverage of the ongoing tensions between Iran, Israel and the United States centers narrowly on military maneuvers, official political statements and high-stakes international diplomatic negotiations. But a quieter, more powerful grassroots movement has been unfolding across Iran’s public spaces and digital platforms, as ordinary citizens and artists push back against the uncertainty and fear of war through intentional collective presence.

    History shows that communities facing crisis consistently turn to public gathering as a source of strength: Ukrainian protesters assembled in city squares following Russia’s 2014 invasion, New Yorkers came together across the city after the September 11 attacks, and Londoners gathered in underground stations during the Nazi German Blitz of World War II. In moments when every part of daily life feels unstable and out of control, visible public presence becomes an act of reclamation: it allows civilians to reclaim agency over their own lives and communities. For Iranians navigating the current conflict, this movement has formed across three interconnected, mutually reinforcing spheres: physical public presence, cultural and artistic expression, and digital grassroots storytelling.

    ## Physical Presence: Defying Fear Through Visibility

    Iranians have maintained a steady, noticeable public presence in city streets, neighborhood parks and central public squares since regional tensions escalated. What began as spontaneous gatherings in the immediate aftermath of heightened threats has slowly evolved into a quiet, sustained ritual of community cohesion.

    The meaning of these gatherings extends far beyond simple displays of personal courage. During open conflict, empty streets are universally recognized as symbols of fear, societal collapse and government instability. By contrast, consistent public presence sends a clear message of continuity: by refusing to retreat behind closed doors, Iranian citizens are symbolically rejecting the idea that war has completely overtaken their lives and identities.

    For most participants, these gatherings are not inherently an act of political alignment with any faction or leader. Instead, they are a defense of the lives, connections and shared histories that bind communities together. Years of personal labor, generations of family history and collective cultural memory all face existential risk from escalating conflict; showing up in public is a quiet act of protecting the things that matter most.

    A notable early example came in April, after former U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to attack Iran’s critical civilian infrastructure. Renowned Iranian musician Ali Ghamsari responded by traveling to the Damavand power plant and performing his work directly outside the facility. Images of his performance spread rapidly across social media, becoming a touchstone for conversations about civic solidarity amid crisis. More recently, in July, the strength of mass collective public presence was on full display during funeral ceremonies for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, when tens of thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran to grieve together in a massive show of shared community.

    ## Cultural and Artistic Presence: Building Social Cohesion Through Creativity

    Iranian artists, musicians and cultural figures have stepped into a central role in shaping the public’s collective response to ongoing conflict. Their work does more than entertain: it fosters a deep sense of belonging and encourages people to stay connected to public life, acting as a form of informal social infrastructure that ties individual people to their broader communities.

    Across genres, creative expression has become a way for Iranians to collectively process the fear, grief and uncertainty that come with the threat of war, while also exploring themes of national resilience and shared identity. Music, poetry, religious chanting and visual art all serve this purpose.

    One prominent example is the song *Hasbi Allah*, created by Iranian singer-songwriter Mohsen Chavoshi with lyrics by poet Mehdi Abassi. The work draws on centuries of Iranian poetic, musical and spiritual tradition, reflecting on the devastating human cost of war, mourning those who have been harmed, and centering expressions of deep attachment to the Iranian homeland.

    Similarly, traditional Shia Islamic mourning chants known as maddahi have become a core part of many public wartime gatherings. Long tied to collective remembrance and mourning in Shia religious practice, these chants have been reimagined for the conflict context, blending traditional religious symbolism with declarations of love for country and willingness to stand together as a community. Many chants also draw on Iran’s long cultural and historical mythology: one viral video references Arash-e Kamangir, the legendary Persian folk hero who famously sacrificed his own life to fire an arrow that defined Iran’s national borders. These creative works weave together religious devotion, centuries of shared historical memory, and modern national identity to build a sense of collective purpose.

    ## Digital Presence: Grassroots Storytelling for a Global Audience

    One of the most distinctive shifts in how Iranians are communicating about this conflict is the rise of AI-generated videos, memes and parody as tools for grassroots wartime storytelling. Unlike the heavily ideological, martyr-focused narratives that defined official Iranian propaganda in past eras of conflict, much of this new content uses the familiar language of contemporary global internet culture.

    A series of AI-generated Lego animations have gone viral in recent months, with some amassing hundreds of millions of views across platforms. These videos retell recent military events, while weaving in references to Iranian history and mythology and sharp, playful humor that most often parodies former U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many of the videos are overlaid with English-language popular music and lyrics, indicating that creators intend for them to reach audiences far beyond Iran’s borders. Remarkably, almost all of the creators behind these viral works remain anonymous.

    Younger Iranians in particular have embraced irony, meme culture and pop culture references to express their feelings about the conflict. One popular viral video blends overt patriotic themes with playful, self-aware visuals and humor, built around a rap lyric that repeats: “from us remain spirits that live on because they love the homeland.”

    These examples mark a clear, significant shift in how wartime narratives are created in Iran. Iranian citizens are no longer passive recipients of official government messaging about the conflict; they are active, independent creators building their own narratives about what the war means for their lives and their country. The most human, compelling stories of this conflict are not coming from battlefields or diplomatic negotiating tables – they are coming from ordinary people who refuse to sit by helplessly as crisis unfolds around them.

  • China slaps export controls on 14 EU entities in retaliation for Russia-related sanctions

    China slaps export controls on 14 EU entities in retaliation for Russia-related sanctions

    BEIJING – In a tit-for-tat response to the European Union’s latest round of Ukraine-related sanctions targeting Chinese firms, China announced new export restrictions on 14 European entities this Friday. The country’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed in an official statement that all Chinese domestic enterprises will be prohibited from shipping dual-use goods – components and technologies that have both civilian and military applications – to the blacklisted European organizations. The restrictions also extend to foreign firms, which are banned from supplying China-manufactured dual-use items to the targeted entities.

    The affected European companies span multiple industrial sectors across the continent, including Tatra Trucks, a well-known Czech vehicle manufacturer; Lafert SpA, an Italian producer of electric motors; Sindlhauser Materials GmbH, a German manufacturing firm; and Cavok UAS, a French drone producer.

    A ministry spokesperson clarified that the countermeasures directly follow the EU’s decision one day prior, when the bloc added 14 Chinese enterprises from mainland China and Hong Kong to its latest round of sanctions targeting Russia over its ongoing military campaign in Ukraine. The EU’s 21st package of sanctions, adopted Thursday, broadens restrictions to cover Russian banks, cryptocurrency firms, military equipment producers, and entities from third countries that the bloc alleges are supplying dual-use goods and technology to Russia to support its war effort. Beyond Chinese firms, entities based in India and Turkey were also included in the latest round of penalties.

    The spokesperson emphasized that China’s newly announced measures are necessary to “safeguard national security and interests, and to fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation,” in response to what the country calls the EU’s “egregious actions.” The development marks a sharp escalation of trade and diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Brussels, rooted in the EU’s approach to sanction enforcement amid the Ukraine war.

  • UNESCO adds West Bank site and Lebanese castles to World Heritage List despite Israeli objections

    UNESCO adds West Bank site and Lebanese castles to World Heritage List despite Israeli objections

    At a UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting hosted in Busan, South Korea, global cultural heritage officials have voted to approve two contested site nominations for World Heritage designation, marking a high-stakes decision that comes against fierce opposition from the Israeli government. The two sites in question are the ancient archaeological settlement of Sebastia in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and a cluster of five medieval fortifications in Lebanon’s Mount Amel region. Both sites have simultaneously been added to the List of World Heritage in Danger following an emergency review pushed by their nominating parties.

    Sebastia, a hilltop outpost located roughly six miles northwest of the Palestinian city of Nablus, holds profound cross-cultural historical significance. Academic experts widely identify the site as the location of ancient Samaria, the original capital of the biblical Kingdom of Israel. Its layered archaeological ruins preserve evidence of continuous human settlement across the Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic eras, and shared Abrahamic tradition holds that John the Baptist is interred on the site, per UNESCO’s official background materials.

    The Palestinian Authority first submitted Sebastia for UNESCO consideration back in 2012. Its nomination argued that World Heritage status is critical to advancing long-term conservation of the site, noting that while Sebastia draws global tourism, much of the settlement remains unexcavated and under-resourced for preservation efforts under ongoing Israeli occupation. The designation comes at an especially tense moment: Israel does not recognize Palestinian statehood, and the Israeli government has recently moved forward with plans to expropriate large tracts of land surrounding the Sebastia site. The move also comes amid mounting international pressure on Israel to rein in escalating violent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.

    For the Lebanese nomination, the five Mount Amel castles were recognized for their unique layered architectural legacy, which blends design elements from Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk, and local Levantine building traditions. The cluster documents nearly 900 years of evolution in fortified defensive architecture, making it a site of global cultural significance. This was the second Lebanese site added to UNESCO’s global heritage framework during the Busan meeting; just days earlier, the committee added the ancient Phoenician port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

    Israel had mounted a fierce public campaign ahead of the vote to block both nominations. In a formal statement issued earlier that week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused the Palestinian delegation of carrying out a “hostile, one-sided campaign” at UNESCO, claiming the nomination falsely framed Sebastia as facing an imminent conservation emergency. Israeli officials argue the effort is a politically motivated attempt to “erase the site’s profound, well-documented Jewish and Christian history.”

    Israel also extended its opposition to the Lebanese castle nomination, specifically raising objections to the inclusion of Beaufort Castle, one of the five fortifications in the Mount Amel cluster. The Israeli Foreign Ministry claimed that the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has repurposed the historic castle as a military outpost, constructing underground tunnels beneath the site and using the surrounding area to launch rocket attacks. Israeli officials accused UNESCO of ignoring these security and cultural preservation risks.

    Neither UNESCO leadership nor the Lebanese embassy in South Korea has issued a formal response to Israel’s claims regarding Hezbollah and Beaufort Castle. This conflict over the nominations is not an isolated diplomatic incident: Israel formally withdrew from UNESCO in 2019, citing longstanding claims that the organization is systemically biased against the country and downplays Jewish historical ties to the Holy Land. Ahead of Friday’s vote, Israel had called the nominations an example of “weaponization of cultural heritage” for political gain, framing the entire process as illegitimate.

  • Chairman of South Korean tech giant SK ordered to pay $640 million in divorce case

    Chairman of South Korean tech giant SK ordered to pay $640 million in divorce case

    One of South Korea’s most closely watched and financially massive divorce cases reached a new milestone Friday, when the Seoul High Court ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, one of the nation’s wealthiest business leaders, to transfer 944 billion won ($640 million) in assets to his ex-wife Roh So-yeong. The ruling, which local media has widely labeled the “divorce of the century”, comes after South Korea’s Supreme Court sent the case back to the appellate court for re-evaluation last year.

    Roh, who currently serves as a director of a prominent Seoul-based art museum, is the daughter of late former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo. The latest asset award is lower than the 1.38 trillion won ($940 million) the Seoul High Court initially ordered Chey to pay in 2023. The tycoon was also previously ordered to cover 2 billion won ($1.3 million) in spousal support payments.

    The revised valuation of the settlement is tied to recent changes in Chey’s overall asset base, which has grown alongside the global AI boom that has driven sharp gains in shares of SK Hynix, SK Group’s leading semiconductor subsidiary. The Supreme Court’s 2023 remand centered on a key point of disagreement in the original ruling: the lower court had anchored part of its settlement on a finding that Roh’s father provided SK Group with 30 billion won ($20.4 million) in undeclared slush funds during his presidency, a contribution that it ruled helped drive the conglomerate’s growth. But the Supreme Court rejected the argument that these unreported funds could be legally recognized as a contribution to SK’s expansion, requiring the lower court to recalculate the settlement.

    Chey and Roh first married in 1988 and share three children together. The case began in 2017, when Chey filed for divorce after publicly confirming he had entered a relationship with another woman and fathered a child with that partner. Neither Chey nor Roh appeared at Friday’s ruling session. Either party has the right to appeal the new ruling to South Korea’s Supreme Court, which would send the case back to the nation’s highest court for another review.

    Notably, Chey is currently part of a delegation of top South Korean business leaders accompanying President Lee Jae Myung on a visit to the United States. During his trip, Lee is scheduled to meet leading U.S. technology executives including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in San Francisco Friday. The trip’s core goal is to pitch foreign investment in South Korea’s expanding artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors, two industries that are central to the nation’s economic growth strategy.

  • Tech titan ordered to pay ex-wife $644m in divorce settlement

    Tech titan ordered to pay ex-wife $644m in divorce settlement

    One of South Korea’s most closely watched legal disputes, widely dubbed the “divorce of the century,” has concluded with a landmark ruling ordering SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won to hand over 944 billion won (equivalent to $644 million) to his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong. The case, which has dominated headlines across the nation for years, marks a final chapter in a decades-long marriage and contentious asset battle that has been intertwined with South Korea’s political and economic history.

    The reduced settlement, which remains pending final formalization, is lower than the 1.38 trillion won award initially granted to Roh in a 2024 lower court ruling. The ex-couple, who were married for 35 years, first separated more than a decade ago after Chey admitted to fathering a child with another woman. Roh is the daughter of Roh Tae-woo, who served as South Korea’s president from 1988 to 1993, a connection that became a core point of legal contention throughout the proceedings.

    In the 2024 initial trial, Roh’s legal team successfully argued that Chey’s rise to leading South Korea’s second-largest chaebol was significantly buoyed by financial support from his former father-in-law. The lower court ruled that Roh Tae-woo had provided 30 billion won in illegal slush fund assets to Chey in 1991, a contribution that factored into the original 1.38 trillion won award. However, South Korea’s Supreme Court overturned that ruling last year, holding that illegally obtained slush funds could not be classified as shared marital assets eligible for division, sending the case back for re-evaluation.

    The high-stakes divorce has unfolded alongside a period of explosive growth for SK Group, a family-owned conglomerate that anchors much of South Korea’s modern economy. Founded as a small textile business in 1953, SK has expanded its footprint across virtually every key sector of the nation’s economy, from mobile telecommunications through SK Telecom to retail energy distribution. Today, it ranks as the country’s second-largest chaebol, trailing only Samsung Group in overall scale and influence.

    In recent years, the group has gained global spotlight thanks to its semiconductor subsidiary SK Hynix, a critical supplier of advanced chips to AI giant Nvidia that has become a central player in the global artificial intelligence boom. The chipmaker’s valuation crossed the $1 trillion threshold on South Korea’s domestic stock market in May 2025, and it pulled off a record-breaking $26.5 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange last month — the largest listing ever for a foreign firm on U.S. exchanges. As SK Hynix’s value has surged, so too has Chey’s public standing: just last month, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung praised Chey and Samsung chairman JY Lee as “Heroes of Korean People” during the unveiling of a national AI infrastructure investment plan.

    In a statement following the latest ruling, Chey’s legal team acknowledged the public concern sparked by the drawn-out proceedings. “Chairman Chey Tae-won is deeply sorry in that [the divorce] proceedings so far have caused concern to many people,” the statement read. “We will share specific response to the verdict after we closely review the ruling.” The BBC has reached out to SK Group for additional comment on the ruling, as of this reporting no further statement has been released.

    The verdict is not only a major resolution to one of South Korea’s most sensational celebrity legal cases, but it also shines a renewed spotlight on the inner workings of the chaebol system, where family wealth, political connections, and corporate power have long been deeply intertwined. With the final settlement amount now set, attention will turn to how Chey will structure the payout, and what impact, if any, the asset division could have on the leadership and strategy of one of the world’s most important technology conglomerates.

  • Why have thousands taken to the streets? India’s ‘cockroach’ protest explained

    Why have thousands taken to the streets? India’s ‘cockroach’ protest explained

    Across India, tens of thousands of demonstrators have mobilized in public spaces in what has become one of the most significant grassroots protest movements the country has seen in recent years. What began as a localized outcry over unchecked corruption, bureaucratic negligence, and the exploitative practices of state-backed sand mining mafias in the southern state of Karnataka has quickly erupted into a nationwide movement that has captured public attention. The movement’s unconventional mascot – the humble cockroach – has become its most recognizable symbol, and its roots trace back to a controversial comment from a senior state politician. In a 2024 public address, Karnataka’s incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dismissively labeled opposition protestors who were criticizing his administration’s corruption as “cockroaches that need to be stamped out.” Instead of silencing critics, the insult backfired spectacularly: activists embraced the label, turning the disparaging comparison into a rallying cry. Protestors argue that just as cockroaches thrive in unhygienic, dark environments, systemic corruption festers in the hidden, unaccountable corners of state governance – framing themselves as the unwanted pests that will not be erased until the rot of corruption is rooted out. Demonstrations have stretched across major urban centers, from Bengaluru to New Delhi, with participants cutting across demographic lines: students, working-class laborers, civil society activists, and opposition party members have all joined the call for greater government accountability, an end to illegal resource extraction, and transparent policy making. While the movement began as a response to local grievances, it has tapped into a broader national frustration with persistent corruption across all levels of Indian politics, turning a regional dispute into a conversation about systemic change. The “cockroach” mascot has also spawned widespread viral engagement on social media, with users sharing memes, protest art, and calls to action that have expanded the movement’s reach far beyond Karnataka’s borders.